Always an ANBU
by SlumberingLeviathan
Summary: Team Seven doesn't understand why they keep getting stared at every time they go to the mission office. Then they realized, they weren't the ones being stared at, it was Kakashi-sensei that was. They didn't understand why until one day they did. There is no Wave Arc in this story! Sasuke got his Sharingan through a genjutsu and team 7 actually gets along. Somewhat smarter Naruto a
1. Chapter 1

**There is no Wave Arc in this story! Sasuke got his Sharingan through a genjutsu and team 7 actually gets along. Somewhat smarter Naruto and not really a fangirl Sakura. More serious Kakashi. Also a Non-massacre AU.**

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The first time Team Seven realized that their sensei was no ordinary shinobi was when they first reported to the Hokage tower for their first mission. They didn't take much notice at first until they had gathered for dinner together that day. Then they realized that they had been stared at.

Not them specifically, but their sensei.

When they entered the room in the Hokage tower that was responsible for assigning missions, most chatter had seized and eyes were on them. They just didn't take notice of it at that time due to Naruto's cheering about how they were finally getting their first mission. They were meant to be shinobi, how could they not have noticed the change in the room's atmosphere.

While Naruto said that he hadn't noticed the change in the room back then, Sakura just looked at him in disbelief.

"When Kakashi-sensei approached the mission desk and asked for a mission, the chunin there had automatically reached for the locked drawer with the S-rank missions." Sasuke inputted. "At first I thought that he had just reached for the wrong drawer. But now that we are looking at the situation again, I absolutely sure that the chunin thought that sensei was there for an S-rank mission."

Naruto spluttered when he heard this. "But-but, isn't S-rank missions for like, those masked dudes that guard the Hokage or something?" Sakura sighed while Sasuke just closed his eyes as if in pain by his teammates stupidity. ""No Naruto. Jounin can take S-class missions as well, though from what I know they usually go as a team. Actually, even ANBU go as a team on S-rank missions. Except…" There Sakura trailed off and looked over to Sasuke, as if asking him to confirm her suspicions. He nodded back at her.

"Except what, Sakura?" Naruto prodded his female teammate.

"Except for ANBU captains. But that makes no sense. Most ANBU even off duty don't display as much emotion as Kakashi-sensei does unless they're with close family and friends." Now the entire team was in thought. If ANBU operatives were known to not show any outward emotions, then that just ruled out the possibility of Kakashi-sensei being ex-ANBU.

"Ah! What if he is ex-ANBU? That might explain the show of emotions and also explain him being able to take high ranking missions." Naruto pipped up. His two teammates contemplated it for a while before slowing nodding their heads in agreement, though Sasuke seemed to be in deeper thought than Sakura.

Then Sakura propositioned an idea. "How about this, tomorrow we have a day off right? So, let's meet up with Team Ten for barbeque. I heard from Ino-pig that their sensei eats his meals with them. We can always get information from him right?"

Her two male teammates agreed to that immediately, then Sasuke spoke up. "Like Sakura said, tomorrow is our day off. Before we meet up with team ten we should go around the village to get more information about Kakashi-sensei. You know, henge ourselves and go into the bars. People always get loose-lipped when drunk." When Sasuke said that last sentence, he was laughing darkly, causing Naruto and Sakura to cautiously inch away from him.

Needless to say, their 'Find out more about Kakashi-sensei' operation failed. None of the chunins conversations that they listened into mentioned anything about Kakashi-sensei. The only information they managed to get from Asuma-sensei was that they were apparently the very first team that Kakashi-sensei had passed. Though he did say that they "didn't have a single chance of beating Kakashi. Not even if he was blindfolded." Naruto just sulked when he heard that.

Several months passed and Team Seven was close to giving up on finding out more about their sensei. That was at least the case until their team got called to the Hokage's office. When they arrived, they saw the rest of the 'Rookie Nine' and Team Gai along with their senseis gathered as well.

Fifteen minutes later, all of them left the office in a daze. Apparently every few years several chosen genin teams were allowed to observe ANBU qualifiers. Just as team seven was excitedly discussing about all the techniques that they would be able to see and the level required to join the ranks of the infamous Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai, Kakashi-sensei cut in with a curt "I won't be able to join you at the seats tomorrow. I have been assigned a duty." before walking away, leaving Naruto spluttering in disbelief.

"Can you believe him? Then who else is going to explain to us the things that we will be seeing tomorrow?" Naruto raved as his teammates nodded in agreement. Having seen and overheard team seven's situation, Gai approached them, offering them to sit next to his team tomorrow so that he could explain the fights. "Don't judge my rival so quickly. His duty tomorrow does precede that of his responsibility as your sensei." was said to them with a conflicted gaze in his eyes, as if remembering something.

The next day the genin and their respective senseis, bar Kakashi, had gathered at the stadium that was to be used for the qualifiers. Other than them, there were many other jounin in the crowd. The children were able to recognize some Tokubetsu Jounin such as Ibiki, Anko, and Hayate. The applicants could all be seen standing at the side, wearing plain white masks with numbers drawn on.

Stationed along the entrance, exits and along the walls were the ANBU, or at least the ANBU that they were able to notice. Located on the opposite side of the arena was a steel table, long enough to fit around ten people. Most of the seats were filled by ANBU captains. "Usually on missions or on duty the captains will have a white cloak with the rest have black cloak. The ones seated at the table today are some of the best shinobi that this village has to offer." Asuma quickly pointed out to the genin seated.

Just as he said that, another figure approached the table causing most of the people watching to pause in their conversations and only resumed after seeing the ANBU sit down. Not knowing why the onlookers had reacted like that, the genin turned towards their senseis for an explanation. "That man is the current ANBU commander. In other words, he as the highest authority in the whole of ANBU. Only the ANBU commander is allowed to don the Dragon mask." Right after Gai had answered their question, Ten Ten asked another. "Do the ANBU have to wear their mask all the time even when they are within village walls?" Asuma took a long drag of this cigarette before answering this question. "Unless you have been given permission remove your mask by the Hokage personally you have to wear your mask at all times. That is unless, your features are so recognizable even with you mask on and you have the skills to ward of any attackers that would come for you once your identity is made public."

The genin were about to ask more questions when the ANBU commander stood up and announced that the qualifiers were about to commence. Right at the moment when the first two applicants stepped forward to approach the arena, the heavy metal doors of the stadium screeched open. As the figure neared, the genin froze in disbelief and everyone within the vicinity was silent in awe and shock.

Walking with a lethal yet graceful gait was the Copy-nin himself. He was dressed in the standard ANBU armor, minus the cloak and mask, and his headband was nowhere to be seen. As he slowly made his way to the table, mismatched red and black eyes surveyed the stands and the applicants who stood at one side. Finally reaching the table, Kakashi silently sat down in the remaining seat and propped his legs up onto the table, not caring about the paperwork that was crumpled beneath his feet.

Taking advantage of the silence, the ANBU commander started talking. "The qualifiers will now commence. It will be a randomized round robin style. Would any of the captains here like to add anything?" Despite the last part being said as a question for the captains, all the shinobi could tell that it was more of a request for the Copy-nin to say something.

The captivating obsidian black and Sharingan red eyes disinterestedly looked over to the applicants that had stood to attention the moment he walked into the stadium.

"Try to impress me."

Those four words alone caused not only the participating shinobi to stand up even straighter but also the observers to sit up straighter in their seats.

Soon the round robin started but the genin, especially team seven, were still in shock at the appearance and demeanor of Kakashi. "Wha-what is sensei doing here? Why is dressed like that? How, what, I'm so confused!" Naruto's outburst summed up the thoughts of the genin present.

"Once an ANBU, always an ANBU." A rough voice cut through the air. This time, it wasn't any of their senseis who had spoken. Instead, it was one of the ANBU who was positioned near them who did. The ANBU was not standing alone. Behind him stood two other ANBU. The ANBU who had spoken was wearing a mask with a bear design while the two behind him had a cat and snake design.

Naruto was evidently startled by their presence as he had not noticed them ever since he had entered the stadium but he tried to cover it up by shouting at them. Obviously not the best move to make as the ANBU pinned him down with a sharp spike of killer intent.

"Bear." Gai nodded in greeting towards the ANBU's direction.

"We," the ANBU gestured to himself and the two standing behind him, "are ANBU squad One, led by Kakashi Hatake. And because of your team, a quarter of our assigned missions now have to be carried out without our taichou." His voice had taken on a displeased tone near the end of the sentence. "Do you not know anything about the upper ranks of the Konoha shinobi? Or at least look inside the Bingo Book?" The ANBU now had a 'not-impressed' tone as he spoke to Naruto though his words were directed at the genin as a whole. "Kakashi Hatake, also known as _Sharingan no Kakash_i and _Nakamagoroshi no Kakashi_, is one of the most, if not _the_ most, respected ANBU. His confirmed kill count is in the high triple digits. The missions that he is given are S-rank. The fact that he now has to waste his time supervising _genin_ doing D-ranks is disgusting and an insult." All the genin had frozen as they heard the Copy-nin's skill and accomplishments not knowing that it was barely the tip of the iceberg.

"Um…ANBU-san?" Sakura meekly raised her hand and let out a small 'meep' when the ANBU turned his head to look at her. She steeled herself before asking, "Why doesn't he wear a mask? I thought all ANBU has to wear a mask?".

"Kakashi-taichou has already been an ANBU for more than a decade. Before he joined ANBU, he was already famous for his assassination techniques at the age of twelve. So it doesn't matter if he wears a mask or not, because his hair and signature justu gives his identity away. He is listed as S-rank with the 'Flee on Sight' warning in the Bingo book." Bear explained. "Though I must say I am surprised that you didn't know about him Uchiha-san." Sasuke's eyes widened, not expecting the ANBU to talk to him directly. "After all, you brother was placed under Taichou's command before he was promoted and took on a squad of his own."

Hearing that just made Sasuke cursed Itachi in his head. _"I knew there was something off when I asked aniki if he knew anything about Kakashi-sensei and he had just smiled and said he didn't know anything."_ Out load he said, "Itachi didn't say anything…".

Majority of the fights then passed with the genin letting out some "ohhh's" and "ahhh's" at some of the impressive displays of taijutsu and ninjutsu. Though, unlike the spectators, Kakashi had not shown any signs of being impressed or interested by the displays. At the end of the qualifiers, the captains at the table, except Kakashi, could be heard discussing the results of the fights and who to consider for ANBU. All the people present were able to hear their discussion and were curious of the outcome. Just as the commander asked "What about number ten? His skill in taijutsu was quite impressive." Right when he was about to continue talking, he cut of abruptly by a sharp, cold voice.

"Don't bother with number three, ten, thirteen and twenty one. They rely too much on one style. The ANBU has no use for one trick ponies." All the captains turned to look at Kakashi who was still leaning back in his chair with his legs up. There was a moment of silence before the commander slowly nodded his head. "Understood. We will remove them from consideration then." Another captain shuffled through the stack of applications and removed those that pertained to the mentioned applicants.

Before any of the genin could sprout more questions, Bear explained that "The commander is the commander because he has the most experience out of all the ANBUs. However Kakashi's word, carries _more_ weight within the ranks. If Kakashi had joined ANBU just three years earlier, he would have been the ANBU commander instead."

But it seemed that not all the dismissed applicants were accepting of the decision made. Stepping out from the crowd, number ten demanded why he was rejected. "My taijutsu bested my opponents! Even if my ninjutsu was not up to par as the others, my level in taijutsu more than made up for it did it not?" By the end of his rant, the shinobi had made his way to the table and slammed his hands on the table right before Kakashi. But even the display of the outburst did not evoke any reaction from Kakashi.

Suddenly the same hot headed applicant was seen having his legs being swept out from under him and in one fluid motion, slammed onto the ground on his back. "Gah! What-" His words were cut off by a harsh kick to the face followed by a stomp on his ribcage. _"I can't breath. I think my ribs are cracked. Why can't I get up?"_ Thoughts raced through his head. He tried to push himself off the ground but the same foot that had stomped on him was still on his chest, forcing him to stay down.

"Perhaps you are deaf as well as stupid." The voice above him immediately made him freeze in his attempts to get up. The red and black gaze directly above him looked down at him as if he was just a scrap of mud below the Copy-nin's shoes. "I said, the ANBU has no need for shinobi who only reply on one style." After saying that Kakashi looked at Bear and the other two ANBU and tilted his head towards the downed applicant. In a soundless Shunshin, the squad appeared in the middle of the arena, now standing before their taichou with the applicant in Bear's tight hold. Without a word, the squad disappeared out of sight.

Kakashi started heading towards the door but then stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Does anyone else want to object?" His question was met with silence and the furious shaking of head from the remaining applicants.

After that day, team seven made sure to always listen to their sensei's orders and trained harder than they ever did, pushing their bodies to the limit. They became a powerhouse team that was known and feared throughout the elemental nations. When asked by others about what drove them to train so hard, all they said was that they never want to disappoint their sensei.

Even years later, despite having become much stronger, they still lost every spar they had against Kakashi. It didn't matter if it was a one-on-one or the entire team fighting against their sensei.

Every time team seven thought they had managed to close the gap between them and their sensei, Kakashi just widened the gap even larger than it was before.

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**A/N: What do you guys think about it? I've always thought that Kakashi's character had so much potential to be more impressive. Reviews are always loved and welcomed! **


	2. Chapter 2

Hi, so this is not an update since this story was a one-shot. Anyways, I've uploaded another BAMF!Kakashi story under the title of _To Face Reality_. It deals more on the topic that first and foremost, Konoha is a military state and that shinobi are first and foremost, the tools of the Hokage. So, I hope y'all enjoy the read!


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